Mumbai: India’s aviation regulatory body has drafted a new set of rules for air ambulance services that can potentially improve the country’s medical emergency services up to global standards.

The new regulations from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation will enable players such as Aviators Air Rescue, which is set to launch India's first dedicated air ambulance operator next year. The company will be about 24% owned by Air Medical Group Holding (AMGH), one of the world's biggest providers of these services. A DGCA official said Airmethods, another global air ambulance operator, has also shown interest in the segment.

An air ambulance is a helicopter equipped with an approved flight stretcher, specialised medical equipment and medication to treat a patient. It is staffed with a fully trained medical team to handle the specific requirements of a patient who needs to be transported by air.

Air ambulances are especially helpful when the patient is in a critical condition and is a fair distance away from medical assistance. India has a fleet of 140 commercial helicopters but not even one is a dedicated air ambulance. Regular charter operator sometimes operate these medical services on ad-hoc basis, hastily fitting their aircraft with some medical equipment.

Until now, DGCA had a skeletal four-page framework of rules for air ambulance services in India. Earlier this year, it drafted a green paper which was the genesis of the new set of rules.

“US, the global leader in helicopter emergency services or HEMS, has a dedicated fleet of 1,000 helicopters. China, which started this in 2014, has grown to seven helicopters now. Japan started in 1998-99 and now has a 18-20 service. Germany, which is a ninth of India's size, has about 70 helicopters dedicated to HEMS. There is massive potential in India for these services given our road and traffic conditions.

But there is an even greater need for a stringent set of rules,” said the DGCA official.

“The generally accepted norm is one helicopter per million of population. Having said that, India has the potential to have 200-300 helicopters in the next 20 years,” said Ralph Setz, senior manager at Airbus Helicopters Deutschland.

The new rules mandate only twin-engine aircraft to be used to air ambulance operations. All helicopters need to be equipped with systems such as terrain avoidance and warning system, which will warn the pilot beforehand on obstructions.

With immense pride “India Live” celebrated its 10th national conference in Mumbai from 28th February to 3rd March 2019. The conference turned out to be a gold mine of information, with emphasis on academics, education and exchange of knowledge with leaders in interventional cardiology from both India and abroad.